30th New York State Legislature

30th New York State Legislature

The Old Albany City Hall (undated)
Duration: July 1, 1806 – June 30, 1807
President of the State Senate: Lt. Gov. John Broome (Clintonian)
Temporary President of the State Senate:
Speaker of the State Assembly: Andrew McCord (Lewisite)
Members: 32 Senators
100 Assemblymen
Senate Majority: Clintonian
Assembly Majority: Lewisite-Federalist (53-42)[1]
Sessions
1st: January 27 – April 7, 1807
<29th 31st>

The 30th New York State Legislature, consisting of the New York State Senate and the New York State Assembly, met from January 27 to April 7, 1807, during the third year of Morgan Lewis's governorship, in Albany.

Background

Under the provisions of the New York Constitution of 1777, amended by the Constitutional Convention of 1801, 32 Senators were elected on general tickets in the four senatorial districts for four-year terms. They were divided into four classes, and every year eight Senate seats came up for election. Assemblymen were elected countywide on general tickets to a one-year term, the whole assembly being renewed annually.

In 1797, Albany was declared the State capital, and all subsequent Legislatures have been meeting there ever since. In 1799, the Legislature enacted that future Legislatures meet on the last Tuesday of January of each year unless called earlier by the governor.

State Senator Ebenezer Purdy resigned on March 16, 1806, to avoid being expelled for bribery, leaving a vacancy in the Southern District.

In 1806, three new counties were created: Allegany County was split from Genesee County, but remained with Genesee and Ontario County in one Assembly district. Broome County was split from Tioga County, but remained with Tioga in one Assembly district. Madison County was split from Chenango County, and was apportioned two seats in the Assembly, taken from Chenango.

At this time the politicians were divided into two opposing political parties: the Federalists and the Democratic-Republicans.[2]

In 1805, the 28th Legislature had chartered the Merchant's Bank of New York which had been founded by Federalists in competition to the Democratic-Republican Bank of the Manhattan Company. The Democratic-Republican majority of the 27th Legislature had not only refused to grant a charter, but actually ordered the Merchant's Bank to shut down by May 1805. During the next session, the bank bribed enough legislators to have the charter approved, although the Democratic-Republican leaders advocated strongly against it. Gov. Morgan Lewis spoke out in favor of granting the charter[3] what was resented by the party leaders DeWitt Clinton and Ambrose Spencer, and soon led to the split of the party into "Lewisites" and "Clintonians".[4]

Elections

The State election was held from April 29 to May 1, 1806. Senators James Burt (Middle D.) and Jacob Snell (Eastern D.) were re-elected. Jonathan Ward (Southern D.), Elisha Barlow (Middle D.), John Ballard, Salmon Buell, Jacob Gebhard and Nathan Smith (all four Western D.) were also elected to the Senate. Assemblyman Benjamin Coe (Southern D.) was elected to fill the vacancy. Burt, Barlow and Snell were Lewisites, the other six were Clintonians.

Sessions

The Legislature met at the Old City Hall in Albany on January 27, 1807; and adjourned on April 7.

Lewisite Andrew McCord was elected Speaker with the help of the Federalists, with 53 votes against 40 for Clintonian Alexander Sheldon, the Speaker of the previous session.[5] Lewisite Gerrit Y. Lansing was elected Clerk of the Assembly, defeating the Clintonian incumbent Solomon Southwick by a majority of 6 votes.[6] On February 2, Southwick was elected Clerk of the Senate.

On February 3, 1807, the Legislature re-elected John Smith (Dem.-Rep.) to a full term in the U.S. Senate.

State Senate

Districts

Note: There are now 62 counties in the State of New York. The counties which are not mentioned in this list had not yet been established, or sufficiently organized, the area being included in one or more of the abovementioned counties.

Members

The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued in office as members of this Legislature. Benjamin Coe changed from the Assembly to the Senate.

District Senators Term left Party Notes
Southern DeWitt Clinton* 1 year Dem.-Rep./Clintonian until February 1807, also Mayor of New York City
William Denning* 2 years Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Benjamin Coe* 2 years Dem.-Rep./Clintonian elected to fill vacancy, in place of Ebenezer Purdy
Thomas Thomas* 2 years Dem.-Rep./Lewisite elected to the Council of Appointment
Ezra L'Hommedieu* 3 years Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Jonathan Ward 4 years Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Middle Joshua H. Brett* 1 year Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Robert Johnston* 1 year Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Samuel Brewster* 2 years Dem.-Rep.
Stephen Hogeboom* 2 years Dem.-Rep.
Peter C. Adams* 3 years Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
James G. Graham* 3 years Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Elisha Barlow 4 years Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
James Burt* 4 years Dem.-Rep./Lewisite elected to the Council of Appointment
Eastern Edward Savage* 1 year Dem.-Rep./Lewisite elected to the Council of Appointment
John Tayler* 1 year Dem.-Rep.
Thomas Tredwell* 1 year Dem.-Rep.
John Woodworth* 1 year Dem.-Rep./Lewisite also New York Attorney General
Stephen Thorn* 2 years Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Adam Comstock* 3 years Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
John Veeder* 3 years Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Joseph C. Yates* 3 years Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Jacob Snell* 4 years Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Western Caleb Hyde* 1 year Dem.-Rep.
Henry Huntington* 2 years Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Jedediah Peck* 2 years Dem.-Rep.
Nathaniel Locke* 3 years Dem.-Rep.
John Nicholas* 3 years Dem.-Rep./Lewisite elected to the Council of Appointment
John Ballard 4 years Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Salmon Buell 4 years Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Jacob Gebhard 4 years Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Nathan Smith[7] 4 years Dem.-Rep./Clintonian

Employees

State Assembly

Districts

Note: There are now 62 counties in the State of New York. The counties which are not mentioned in this list had not yet been established, or sufficiently organized, the area being included in one or more of the abovementioned counties.

Assemblymen

The asterisk (*) denotes members of the previous Legislature who continued as members of this Legislature.

District Assemblymen Party Notes
Albany David Bogardus Federalist
Asa Colvard* Federalist
Johann Jost Dietz Federalist
Daniel Hale Federalist
Joseph Shurtleff* Federalist
Jacob Veeder Federalist
Allegany,
Genesee
and Ontario		 Alexander Rea* Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Philetus Swift Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Asahel Warner Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Broome
and Tioga		 John Miller* Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Cayuga John Grover Jr.* Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Amos Rathbun* Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Chenango Obadiah German Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Joseph Simonds Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Clinton Nathaniel Z. Platt Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Columbia Elisha Gilbert Jr. Federalist
Peter Sharp Federalist
Gainus Stebbins Federalist
Anson Pratt Federalist
Delaware John T. More Federalist
Joshua Pine Dem.-Rep.
Dutchess John Haight Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Aaron Hazen Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Theron Rudd Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
John Storm Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Tobias L. Stoutenburgh Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Martin E. Winchell Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Veniah Woolley* Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Essex Stephen Cuyler* Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Greene Samuel Haight Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
James Thompson* Federalist
Herkimer John Kennedy Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
George Widrig* Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Samuel Wright* Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Jefferson,
Lewis and
St. Lawrence		 Moss Kent Federalist
Kings John Hicks* Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Madison Erastus Cleaveland Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Sylvanus Smalley* Dem.-Rep./Clintonian previously a member from Chenango Co.
Montgomery[8] Lawrence Gros Dem.-Rep.
James Lansing
Alexander Sheldon* Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
William Van Olinda
Harmanus A. Vedder
New York John Bingham Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Francis Cooper* Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Clarkson Crolius* Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Benjamin Ferris* Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
William W. Gilbert* Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Henry Rutgers Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Samuel Russell* Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Arthur Smith* Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
James Warner* Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Oneida George Brayton* Dem.-Rep.
Uri Doolittle Dem.-Rep.
Charles Z. Platt Dem.-Rep.
Onondaga Ozias Burr Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Squire Manro Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Orange William Crist* Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Andrew McCord* Dem.-Rep./Lewisite elected Speaker
Abraham Shultz Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
John Wood* Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Otsego Thomas Brooks Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Gurdon Huntington* Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Robert Roseboom Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Henry Scott Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Queens Stephen Carman Federalist
William Mott Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
John W. Seaman* Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Rensselaer Gilbert Eddy Dem.-Rep.
Asa Mann Dem.-Rep.
William W. Reynolds* Dem.-Rep.
Robert Woodworth Dem.-Rep.
Adam Yates Dem.-Rep.
Richmond David Mersereau Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Rockland Samuel G. Verbryck Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Saratoga Chauncey Belding Dem.-Rep.
Gideon Goodrich Dem.-Rep.
Jesse Mott* Dem.-Rep.
David Rogers Dem.-Rep.
Schoharie Henry Shafer Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Peter Swart Jr. Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Seneca Cornelius Humfrey* Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Steuben John Wilson* Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Suffolk Israel Carll* Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
David Hedges* Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
David Warner Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Ulster John Conklin Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Jacob Marius Groeen Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Jacob Rea Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Peter P. Roosa* Dem.-Rep./Lewisite
Washington Kitchel Bishop* Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Peleg Bragg Dem.-Rep.
John Gray Dem.-Rep.
James Hill Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Jason Kellogg Dem.-Rep.
William Robards Dem.-Rep.
Westchester William Barker Federalist
Benjamin Isaacs Federalist
Samuel Marvin Dem.-Rep./Clintonian
Abraham Odell Dem.-Rep./Lewisite

Employees

Notes

  1. ↑ This is the average of the five votes taken for Speaker and Council of Appointment, see note below. There were 18 Federalists who combined with the Lewisites to form a majority. Many Lewisites had already been elected with Federalist endorsement in the districts, the Clintonians being the majority faction of the Democratic-Republican Party.
  2. ↑ The Anti-Federalists called themselves "Republicans." However, at the same time, the Federalists called them "Democrats" which was meant to be pejorative. After some time both terms got more and more confused, and sometimes used together as "Democratic Republicans" which later historians have adopted (with a hyphen) to describe the party from the beginning, to avoid confusion with both the later established and still existing Democratic and Republican parties.
  3. ↑ Lewis put thus his personal opinion above party discipline. He had been Chief Justice and was wealthy beyond corruptibility—nobody ever accused him of taking a bribe—and formed his opinion on legal and technical grounds. On the other side, he had been elected governor with the help of a minority of Federalists against his party-splitting opponent Aaron Burr.
  4. ↑ see Hammond, pg. 219f
  5. ↑ Hammond says McCord was elected with a majority of 11, see pg. 237. Two votes were lost because McCord's name was misspelled, so that on the opening day the majority was actually 55 to 40. Later, at the election for the Council of Appointment, the majorities varied from 54-41 to 51-44.
  6. ↑ see Hammond, pg. 237
  7. ↑ Nathan Smith (ca. 1769-1836), of Fairfield, First Judge of the Herkimer County Court 1814-1821; see bio in A History of Herkimer County by Nathaniel S. Benton (pages 357ff)
  8. ↑ Montgomery had 1 Federalist, 1 Clintonian and 3 Lewisites; see The Balance, and Columbian Repository (Vol. 5; page 183) [the totals add up, differently, to 17 Federalists, 40 Lewisistes and 43 Clintonians]

Sources

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